


No other way

by MakoDragon



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, Romance, This man deserved to be happy!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 17:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18286685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakoDragon/pseuds/MakoDragon
Summary: A fluffy story about Muriel and the Apprentice





	No other way

**Author's Note:**

> I'm bad at writing fluff but I had a conversation with a fellow Arcana fan on Insta( YOu know who you ARE!) When I had the cutest mental image ever and I just had to TRY

Had someone told you a couple years prior that you’d be in a forest living with Muriel and his wolf Inanna you would’ve laughed at them.

But there you were, sitting in a field of flowers nearby his house, making a flower crown as Inanna was laying besides you, peacefully napping while Muriel was feeding the chickens.

For forever Muriel had been saying that he’d rather be left alone and would always try to make you leave whenever you would visit. Inanna would however block the way,  looking at Muriel as if to say that human company would be good for him. Every time Muriel would find himself giving him after having a staring contest with the wolf.

Then over time Muriel stopped asking you to leave and instead would look… lonely whenever it was time for you to leave. He would walk you to the edge of the forest, making sure you’d have a pouch of Myrrh with you so you wouldn’t forget him. He admitted to secretly requesting more from Asra who was more than happy to help his friend especially considering that he had caught on to his little crush on you; his precious apprentice, pretty early on.

With a knowing smile he would prepare the Myrrh and deliver it on days you were looking after the shop as Muriel didn’t want you finding out that he cared more than he let on. He would always curse himself afterwards as Asra wouldn’t be able to resist teasing him just a little,  finding it amusing to see the usually so stoic man turn every shade of red in the book.  Asra would tell him to just tell you already but Muriel would always refuse telling him it was no use as you would forget about him the moment you looked away from him if it wasn’t for the Myrrh.

It saddened Asra deeply seeing his friend like this. He knew the past hadn’t been kind to any of them and that Muriel had done some things he regrets in order to protect him. That he didn’t consider himself a good person but in his eyes Muriel deserved it all the more to be happy as did you.

So together with Nadia, Portia and Julian he crafted a plan to bring the two of you together. He admitted he might have been overstepping a bit but if he didn’t do anything the two of you would be elderly people before anything would happen.

 It would be your birthday soon so he had planned a surprise party and asked Muriel if it was ok to have a dinner party in front of his house.  Muriel didn’t want it and argued with Asra for a while until Asra spoke up.

“ I really want them to have a nice birthday party. A nice and simple one. Nadia and Portia wanted to throw them a big lavish party at the palace while Julian had almost talked them into a trip by boat for their birthday. While both nice ideas I don’t think that’s what they would want. Not after everything that had happened the past couple years. So I really need your help old friend.”  There it was, something Muriel could never refuse. The thought of you being out of reach also scared him more than his face showed but Asra, having been his friend for so long could read him like an open book.

“Fine.” He muttered under his breath, Inanna letting out an excited bark. “What do you need me to do?” Asra smiled at him. “ I will bring the decorations here soon along with the food. They’ll be here soon after as they’re been dragged around on a shopping trip by the others. “ The white haired magician laughed remembering your panicked face as you were dragged off into the streets of Vesuvia by the rowdy threesome.

Before Muriel could say anything else the man had disappeared into thin air like usual, leaving the man to pout and sulk for a moment that he let himself get talked into the dinner party. Inanna nipped at his ankles telling the man to stop acting bratty.  This didn’t stop the man from sulking until Asra had returned with the decorations. They weren’t as gaudy as Muriel initially thought. They were the colours of nature itself, green, dark brown and other tones that wouldn’t at all stand out save for the occasional orange and yellow. With the snap of his fingers the decorations were up. “ That’s taken care of.. now for the food. Be right back” Asra smiled and left again only to pop back in mere moments after with a table filled with several dishes.

When Muriel looked closer however he noticed how small the table was and it was only set for two. It finally sinking in what Asra had done he turned to the man looking somewhere in between embarrassed and angry. “ “Good luck” Asra spoke, waving as he disappeared only for his visage to be replaced by yours as you walked over, not having heard a single thing.

Muriel had wanted to be angry but the moment that he laid his eyes on you his brain turned to mush. You were breath taking. Dressed in simple but elegant dark green robes with dark purple and orange embroidery on the hem. it accentuated and complimented your natural features, comfortably hugging your body.  “… Where is everyone? Am I the first one here?”

You stood in front of the big man who, if it had been possible to look anymore in awe would have his jaw hitting the ground pretty hard. “Muriel?” Tilting your head you saw the man return to reality and look down at you. “Where is everyone else? “ The man sighed “ … Not here. The won’t be here either.. we got tricked.”

Looking around at the decorations and then the table it finally dawned on you that the two of you got bamboozled by the rest of your friends into a date setting. “..Oh..” Your eye fell on the card on the table and picked it up to read it.

 _“_ _By now you_ _’_ _ll probably have found out that we tricked you into a date. We did. And I_ _’_ _m sorry. Please give the card to Muriel now._ _”_  Not seeing anything else underneath the card you tilted your head handing the card to him. The moment Muriel took the card in his hands another line of text appeared. _“_ _Muriel you deserve to be happy and so do they_ _”_ As soon as Muriel had read the line the card disappeared much like the person who had created the card.

He was about to say something when he heard both his and your stomach loudly growl. “Guess… we should eat” Nodding the two of you sat at the table and awkwardly began to eat. It wasn’t a nice silence it was a ‘ I don’t know what to say type of silence’. You occasionally glanced up seeing the man clearly feeling awkward as hell about the whole situation. “Sorry. Should I just go for today Muriel?” The man looked at you. He felt awkward yes but he didn’t want to tell you to leave especially considering it was your birthday.

“I’m sorry Muriel.” You started”  They probably did this because of me… Asra found out I like you and kept teasing me telling me I should just tell you... I kept telling him I wouldn’t but I would always tell him I’d be bothering you as there’s no way you would like me back and  well what do you know I told you without meaning to.! I should really go!” You quickly rose from your seat feeling the blood rush to your face and Muriel’s shocked expression wasn’t helping either.

Seeing you walk off Inanna nipped Muriel again, snapping him out of his shock and nudging him. Seeing him not move however the wolf rolled their eyes, running after you in his stead to block your way to give Muriel some time. “It’s ok.. I’m sorry to you too Inanna” You patted the wolf on their head but the wolf wouldn’t budge, instead nudging you with their nose to stay. “ I don’t think Muriel would like that… I made him uncomfortable enough for today..”

The wolf let out a small whine and nudged you again, clearly not budging themselves either. You sighed, sadly smiling at the wolf, your sad smile turning into a look of shock as you felt two strong arms pull you close. “ I.. never said I didn’t like…you” You heard Muriel say as you felt your back hit his chest, the smell of Myrrh more apparent now. “I’m sorry. “ He mumbled  “ I didn’t want to tell you, you deserve someone better ..” Before Muriel had the chance to keep talking bad about himself you turned around, placing your hands on his cheeks.

“ Someone better like who? Other than the man who protected me from the shadows while my memories were gone? Someone who despite not being fond of being around people would go into the busy streets of Vesuvia to keep me safe. Someone so selfless that they protect their friends despite being pushed far out of their comfort zone? Someone who regrets what they did in the past, atoned a million times over yet continued to blame himself for everything? Someone who though small.. has the most beautiful smile in the world? Someone better than you? Because there isn’t one Muriel.”

\------

You smiled remembering that day as your birthday was also the anniversary of the two of you becoming a couple. “ Remembering something?” Muriel spoke, making you fall over as you hadn’t expected him to be standing next to you. “ Y-yeah! Just something nice… Oh! The flower crown is done!” You got up and attempted to put it on Muriel’s head but due to the height difference even when he leaned over you couldn’t reach. “ Should I just… sit down?” Muriel spoke, a small amused smile on his face when he noticed the pout on your face.

“Yes please. “ You swore that one day you would do it. Without magic as you only used magic sparingly around the house seeing as you use it a lot at work in Asra’s shop. The man sat down and you could finally place the flower crown on his head. “ Hehehe.” You smiled, admiring your handiwork and the man wearing it before sitting down on his lap. “ So this was your plan..” You could hear the man chuckle slightly, another thing he rarely did before.

“Maybe..” You smiled, snuggling with the big man. “ So how was your day Muriel?”  The man looked down at you,  happy. “ My day .. was normal. I painted some masks for Asra as the annual masked ball is coming up again, patrolled the woods with Inanna and fed the chickens.. How was your day?”  

“My day was eventful. We had a lot of people coming for love readings these days and today wasn’t any different on that aspect but during one reading this man tried to bust down the door claiming his wife was inside! It really was the man’s wife  and he accused her of having an affair with Asra!” Muriel didn’t look surprised as Asra was considered to be quite the attractive individual to many of the people in Vesuvia and many other places to his knowledge. The whole air of mystery surrounding the white haired magician didn’t help either. “ But Asra assured the man that that wasn’t the case. The man didn’t believe him and actually tried to attack him so I sent him flying with that grappling technique you showed me! I thought his wife would be mad at me but instead she slapped her husband,  yelling at him that she was only getting some advice on how to….ahem.. _spice_ up their love life and then she ran off with him right behind her. He came back a few hours later with double the coin we usually ask for the readings to apologize and pay for any possible damage he had done to the door.”

“Sounds like quite the eventful day..” Nodding you leaned into him a little more. “I also scoured the markets and one stall was selling Myrrh… it reminded me of you and home… So I asked Asra if I could keep a pouch of Myrrh at the table I use in the store and he said yes..Oh that’s also a thing that happened. I was cleaning the shop… and I found the doctor and the queen hiding in the closet…. So that was interesting… especially considering how everything was before. It was kind of cute to see how flustered they were. My guess is that Asra knew but didn’t say anything as he was trying really hard not to laugh at my shocked expression..”

Muriel simply sighed and shook his head. “ Asra probably knew knowing him… He has always had very keen senses after all.. “

The forest slowly got darker as the sun was setting. “ We should get inside and get started on dinner..I got boar today.” Your eyes lit up “ Boar?!? Awesome I got some good herbs that would probably go well with that! “Nodding Muriel got up, but instead of letting you get up on your own, scooped you up into his arms and began to walk to the house with Inanna right behind him.

 Muriel was a man of little words but he would show his affection in his actions.

To you it was absolutely adorable.

 

THE END


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